Two songs from JJ Cale that stand out for me are “Cocaine” and “After Midnight”, both of which have been most famously covered by Eric Clapton.
In fact I was just reading that it was Clapton’s 1970 cover of “After Midnight”, at a time when Cale was “languishing in obscurity” and not doing very well financially, that inspired the artist to capitalise on its success and record an album with his own version, practically kickstarting his career. Since then, many famous artists have covered his songs.
When I come to think of it, “After Midnight” (though actually the Clapton version) is one of my favourite songs.
I remember sitting listening to it – after midnight – in a car or van outside a gig in south Germany in the village of Sand am Main by a band I used to write stuff with in the early Eighties. It was a cassette (anybody remember those?) with Eric Clapton on one side and George Thorogood and the Destroyers on the other.
Having said that, listening to this live version of “After Midnight” by the author himself, which is in a totally different style, I must say I like it a lot too, really funky:
And here’s JJ Cale with his studio version of “Cocaine”:
This live verison of “Cocaine” sounds very laid back:
JJ Cale also wrote a track made famous by rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, “They Call Me The Breeze”.
I found this video of it together with “Don’t Wait” (love the harmonica – and banjo? – in that one) as sound track to a motorcycle ride along the country roads of the Channel Island Guernsey – one of my favourite places, I did this on a bicycle 22 years ago:
Don’t wait to listen to more from JJ Cale!
Paul